ORGANIZED CRIME MORE SOPHISTICATED

Driving Force Behind Drugs In Canada: RCMP

OTTAWA (CNS) - Organized crime is continuing to fuel the drug trade
in Canada and a new report notes that criminal organizations are
branching out and becoming more sophisticated.

"These organizations are powerful, well-connected and are dealing in
high profit-yielding illicit ventures across the globe," said the
RCMP's Drug Situation Report 2006, released Monday. The annual report
is based on seizure data and investigations conducted by the RCMP and
other enforcement agencies.

The report found that organized crime is a driving force behind an
expanding drug trade in Canada. Whereas in previous years criminal
groups specialized in just one drug commodity, they are now spreading
out and involved in dealing multiple drugs and in importation and exportation.

The report provides an overview of the drug trade in Canada and
highlights new and emerging trends.

Cannabis products -- which include marijuana and hashish -- represent
the world's largest illicit drug market, with approximately 160
million customers around the world.

POT PRODUCTION FLOURISHING

That market, specifically the production of marijuana, is flourishing
in Canada, according to the RCMP report.

Demand for pot is high both at home and abroad, particularly in the
United States, the report found.

The report noted several emerging trends in 2006 in the marijuana
market. Among them, it found that crime groups are producing
increasingly potent marijuana and that there's a shift towards using
private aircraft for smuggling drugs between British Columbia and the
United States.

Illegal motorcycle gangs and organized crime groups of Asian origin
dominate the pot growing and selling industry in Canada, the report
said, and the organized crime groups will often buy pieces of rural
land or urban properties to produce the drug.

Other key findings and facts from the report include the following:

- - Canada was identified as a transit country for trafficking cocaine
to Australia

- - Canada is becoming a major producing and export country for ecstasy

- - There was a massive increase in opium seizures in 2006, jumping to
124 kilograms from just 16 kilograms the year before

- - Altering existing drugs by blending them with others, possibly
making them more addictive, and developing new processing methods are
growing trends.